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Friday, January 6, 2017

Book Review: Not in My Wildest Dreams (McKenna #2) by Jamie Hollins

It really sucks to be
in love with someone who sees you as nothing more than a friend. Darcy
Owens knows this from personal experience. From the moment she met Sean
McKenna as a shy ten-year-old, he’s owned her heart. So when he asks for
her help with an important construction project, she can’t say no.

Building
a boutique hotel on Boston’s waterfront is a career-making opportunity,
and Sean needs Darcy’s interior design expertise. She’s incredibly
talented, and there is no one he trusts more. He knows he can always
count on his childhood friend, but doesn’t know why he’s thinking about
her tight skirts and blue eyes instead of tight deadlines and
blueprints.

When Sean and Darcy’s excitement about their work
turns into an entirely different kind of excitement, it’s a sexy
surprise. But they soon realize that building a new relationship is more
challenging than building a new hotel, especially when life-long habits
and old insecurities create cracks in the foundation.

I haven't read anything by Jamie Hollins prior to this and maybe that was one of my issues with this book. I don't think that having read the previous book that my thoughts would have changed but I may not have read this one if I had read the first one. I don't know. I'm a little torn on this book.

I always enjoy the friends to lovers plots. I think that they are interesting and I love watching the struggle between those two relationships morph into something, whether it ends as expected or not. I think it shows a lot of depth of character when the author puts the characters through these kinds of obvious stretches. And that part of the book worked well for me. I liked how the story was framing out to be and I enjoyed getting to know the characters.

I immediately really liked Darcy. I admired how she could say what she was thinking and her not have any kind of remorse for that. I wish that I could just say what I think to people's faces but I always feel badly because it might hurt someone's feelings. So I do the healthy thing and just internalize everything and go home and eat my feelings. So living vicariously through Darcy was a fun little ride for a couple of days. I also really liked Sean. Boy, did he like to poke the bear! Sean is an ornery little shit and you'll go between wanting to karate chop his throat or make out with him. His behavior shouldn't be attractive but for some reason, it is.

Like I said before, I liked how the story was put out there. But. You get about 80% done with the book and it feels like the story has reached its natural ending. But it keeps going. And going. If I had stopped the book at that 80% mark, this would be a totally different review and rating. I liked it up until that point. Then I just wanted the story to end. It didn't feel right, the conversations felt forced, the plot felt stretched to its max and it just lost the magic I had previously found on those pages. I didn't even finish the last tenth of the book! That has never happened before. I don't know why I had this type of reaction to the ending. This is literally a first for me. It makes me wonder if the first book was like this as well.

I don't know if I'll be reading another book by this author. I mean, she can write. REALLY well. But I just don't want to be crushed under another extra long, unnecessary ending.